Former NBC president Warren Littlefield recalled how the late Matthew Perry saved the network during its 1996 upfronts.
“Due to an electrical failure, the presentation stopped. Eventually, we learned that a curling iron overheated and short-circuited most of our power,” Littlefield, who greenlit Friends during his tenure as NBC president from 1991 to 1998, wrote in an article for Variety on Wednesday, November 1. “I panicked. But then, with that unbelievably great smile accompanied by his then quite famous wit and charm, out walked Matthew from backstage and proceeded to entertain the audience.”
Littlefield noted that Perry — who was there to promote season 2 of Friends — then “winked” at him as to say, “I’ve got this boss,” before diverting the crowd’s attention.
“Forget our new fall programs, that was the most memorably entertaining part of the presentation,” Littlefield continued. “No one asked Matthew to do that job — he just saw what was unfolding and jumped in. That was Matthew.”
Perry starred on Friends for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 as the witty and sarcastic Chandler Bing. According to Littlefield, there was initial interest in Perry’s friend Craig Bierko to play the role, so Perry hesitated to audition himself. “Matthew stayed in the background because he didn’t want to compete with his friend,” he said. “Who says show business has to be cut throat?”
Littlefield recalled realizing his “prayers were answered” the moment he saw Perry’s audition. From the pilot on, Perry routinely proved “just how gifted he was comedically,” Littlefield said, noting that the writers, producers and directors “always benefited” from his “contributions and instincts.”
News broke on Saturday, October 28, that Perry had died at the age of 54. According to multiple reports, local law enforcement officers responded to a cardiac arrest call at Perry’s Los Angeles home. The county’s medical examiner confirmed one day later that Perry, who was found unresponsive in his jacuzzi tub, had died on the scene. A cause of death has not been revealed.
Prior to his passing, Perry struggled with the throws of addiction for years. On Wednesday, Littlefield shared that it became “clear” fairly “early on” in the life of Friends that Perry “needed help” before he entered rehab for the first time in 1997.
“There were many programs to choose from, but Matthew chose a particularly tough program in a distant city, one that didn’t cater to being rich or famous,” Littlefield said. “The choice was surprising, but he believed putting in the hard work was what he needed.”
Perry was vocal about this decades-long battle with alcohol and drug addiction — which he detailed in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. At his lowest point, the Emmy winner revealed he was taking 55 Vicodin a day and weighed just 128 pounds. “I didn’t know how to stop,” he wrote. “The disease and the addiction is progressive, so it gets worse and worse as you grow older.”
He also recalled spending two months in a coma and five months in the hospital when his colon burst in 2018 due to excessive drug use, which resulted in a seven-hour surgery that doctors said he had a two percent chance of surviving. “Not only do I have the disease, but I also have it bad,” Perry said. “Even on good days, when I’m sober and I’m looking forward, it’s still with me all the time.”
Earlier this month, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that Perry sparked health concerns following his appearance on Max’s 2021 Friends reunion special. “People had been worried about him because he wasn’t in the best form during the reunion taping,” the insider said. “Of course, there was an initial feeling of ‘Could we have done something more for him?’ They are all just incredibly sad.”
Meanwhile, Perry’s Friends costars — including Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and Courteney Cox — mourned the loss of their longtime pal in a Monday, October 30, statement to Us: “We were more than just cast mates. We are a family. There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss.”
Despite his health ups and downs, a second source exclusively told Us that Perry had been “keeping a healthy lifestyle” and trying to “get back to where he [used] to be” in the months leading up to his death.
“When he was on the pickleball court, he was happy,” the insider noted of Perry, who had been hitting the courts four to five days a week for the past two years.